Cherry, Walnut & Chocolate Birthday Cake

It’s my mother’s birthday tomorrow and a second Christmas celebration for us, so a special birthday cake is required. A few years ago I made my mother Brian Goodwin’s Birthday Cake from Gaia’s Kitchen for her birthday party and it proved to be so popular with the guests that I was inundated with requests for the recipe. Surprisingly, I haven’t made it since – time to rectify this I think!

Stirred this until smooth then covered cake with the marzipan and then the marzipan with the chocolate mixture.

Decorated with 12 toasted walnut halves.

One of the reasons I remember this cake as being so good is that marzipan lovers like myself are not deprived of this delicacy as is usual with a non-fruit cake. I’m looking forward to trying it again tomorrow.

Chele

I love the use of the marzipan on a chocolate cake, it has never occurred to me before, but of course a winning combination. I love marzipan and I love chocolate so can’t go wrong with this one. I like the use of date syrup too, never used this either, will have to give this icing a try. Hope you have a lovely time. Your poor Mum sharing her birthday with New Year’s Eve – but it doesn’t look like she misses out on too much.

I often use marzipan as a filling in a chocolate layer cake – put a thin layer of apricot jam onto the bottom layer, then add a circle of marzipan, finally a layer of ganache or chocolate buttercream (whatever frosting you are putting on top). After a couple of days the marzipan becomes gooey and the filling is one homogenous almondy chocolate layer.

Thank you all for your comments. My mother had a great day and enjoyed the cake. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed. The flavour was good, the marzipan was yummy and the chocolate and date topping worked really well, but I think I must have overcooked it as it was rather dry and I don’t like dry cake especially chocolate cake. Luckily no one else seemed to mind.

Kath, yes indeed, my mother has always rued having her birthday at this time of year, not so much because of New Year’s eve, but because it gets muddled up with Christmas.

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Hello, I’m Choclette. I’m a vegetarian whole food recipe developer. I have a sweet tooth and a passion for baking and chocolate. Welcome to my award winning blog. Here you will find nourishing home cooked food with a twist as well as wholesome foodie tales.